PPOD Guide 12

Submitting the October Return

A Guide for PPOD users

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Submitting the October Return 1. Introduction 2. Procedure

1. Introduction The October Returns process is the annual collection of data on pupil enrolments provided by recognised post-primary schools to the Department. It is based on the number of students enrolled and under regular instruction as at 30th September each year. It is completed and submitted in October. Post-primary schools are required to generate their annual pupil returns through P-POD. The data returned is used by the Department to allocate teaching posts and funding to schools. For exam entrants, the data returned is shared with the State Examinations Commission to assist in the organisation and administration of examinations. 2. Procedure When you have completed your Rules Report (see Job Guide 9) you can click on ‘Submit Returns to DES’ on the PPOD landing page menu.

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In the above case, the user is not permitted to proceed to submit the school’s October Return because there is still at least one error remaining in the Rules Report. The user must revisit the Rules Report (by clicking on ‘Generate Rules Report’), correct the error(s) and regenerate the report, before trying again to submit the October Return. When the error(s) have been cleared, click on ‘Submit Returns to DES’ again. You will be presented with the following screen.

If you are ready to submit your October Return, tick the first box. If your Book Rental Scheme details have not changed since the last academic year, tick the second box. To check your current Book Rental Scheme details on PPOD, go to Update School Details Miscellaneous. The details are in panel 3 (see below).

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If they need to be changed do so now and click ‘Save Further Details’ at the bottom of the page. Then return to the ‘Submit Returns to DES’ page. Tick both boxes and click ‘Next’. The following page will be displayed.

You can wait to receive an email to inform you that the October Return has been generated, or you can click the ‘Refresh’ button periodically to check. When the October Return has been generated you will be presented with the screen below. This screen shows a summary of the number of pupils in your school as at 30 September.

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You should check this summary carefully to ensure that all figures are correct. If any of the figures are incorrect, now is the time to check them against your local system to see where the difference is. Common reasons for differences are as follows:

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One or more of your pupils were also enrolled in another school. They attended the other school on 30 September and were therefore discounted from your school’s October Return.

If the count is one or more pupils over compared to PPOD, this could be a) because pupils may have left your school after 30 September. These pupils will be counted in your October Return but will not be present in your PPOD; or b) pupils who you marked as early leavers after 30 September and whose records have gone to the new school’s PPOD. You will have to check your local system to find these pupils.

If the count is one or more pupils short compared to PPOD, this could be because pupils may have started in your school after 30 September. These pupils will be present in your PPOD but will not be counted in your October Return. You can see if this is the case by going to Pupil Batch Update, searching for pupils in a particular programme and year and then sorting the results by clicking on the heading ‘Enrolment Date’. This sorts the results in order of enrolment date, first in chronological order (earliest first), then if you click it again, in reverse chronological order (latest first).

If you are having difficulty locating the source of the difference, try to isolate it to a particular programme and year and then check the pupil list for that programme and year on your local system against the same list on PPOD. If the difficulty persists, contact the PPOD helpdesk. Do not submit your October Return until you are satisfied that the figures on the summary screen are correct.

When you are happy with the numbers go back to ‘Submit Returns to the DES’.

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If some of the data was incorrect and you have subsequently made an amendment (e.g. a pupil was in LC instead of LCVP and you have moved them to the correct programme), you should click on the ‘Regenerate’ button at the bottom of the summary screen (see above) to allow the system to regenerate your October Return and correct the figures on the summary to reflect the change you have just made. IMPORTANT NOTE: You must use the ‘Regenerate’ button on this screen. The ‘Regenerate Rules Report’ button located elsewhere will not work for this. Once you are satisfied that the figures on your summary are correct you can submit the return to the department. To do so, tick the confirmation box and click on the ‘Submit’ button.

The electronic portion of your return has been successfully submitted to the department. You should now click on the ‘OL20 Report’ button, then click on the ‘Print CMA/OL20’ button.

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This will produce the paperwork that you need to submit to the department by post.

You should save the CMA/OL20 to your computer and print it off. It is the job of the principal to check the figures and other details on it and to sign the form where indicated. You should keep a copy of the signed form on your files. Non-ETB school principals send the completed and signed OL20/CMA directly to the department at the address below. Principals of ETB schools must submit their October Returns documentation to the department via their ETB head office.

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All four pages must be submitted in all instances. Original signatures are required, so photocopies, fax copies, email copies or forms missing a signature will not be accepted. The CMA/OL20 form must be posted to: Department of Education and Skills, Parents, Learners and Database Section, Schools Division, Cornamaddy, Athlone, Co. Westmeath, N37 X659 to arrive no later than October 7th. School Principals are reminded that the department is obliged to refer to An Garda Síochána any deliberate overstatement of pupil numbers in a school’s October Return for the purpose of claiming additional resources from the department. In these circumstances it will be a matter for An Garda Síochána to determine what action, if any, should be taken and consequently may result in a criminal prosecution.